Trolley catcher and replacer.



PATENTBD SEPT. 22, 1903.

J. V. AINSWORTH.

TROLLEY GATOHER AND RBPLACER.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 22. 1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 2.

NO MODEL.

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UNITED STATES Patented September 22, 1903.

i PATENT OFFICE.

TRQLLEY CATCH ER AND REPLACER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 739,632, dated September 22, 1903.

Application filed January 22, 1903. gerial Nil-140.175. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, J AMES V, Amswonrn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Los Angeles, in the county of, Los Angeles, State of California, have invented and discovered a new and useful Improvement in Erolley Catchers and Replacers; and I do hereby de-' clare the following tobe a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the-same.

This invention relates to improvements in an attachment for trolley wheels, which quickly catches the trolley-wire when displaced from the wheel and replaces the wire thereupon; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to provide a movable forked rod for retaining the trolley-wire when dis placed from the trolley-wheel until replaced upon the trolley-wheel; second, to construct an automatically-operating replacing device by means of which the trolley-wire is restored upon the trolley-wheel whenever accidentally removed therefrom; third, to improvise an automatic air compressing device carried upon the car for replacing disengaged trolleywheels on the trolley-wire; fourth, to devise means whereby delay to passengers onthe car is avoided, and, fifth, to produce a device which will avoid the necessity of stopping the car in order to replace upon the trolley wheel the trolley-wire dislodged therefrom-L I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings,in

which Figure 1 is a view in elevation of my improved attachment for trolley-wheels, showing the trolley wheel and wire in place thereon, the cylinder and its attached arm for the trolley-wheel, and the socket for the trolleypole,with a portion of the trolley-pole and airtube broken away. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of the cylinder, showing the piston head,

and the wire coil for depressing the piston shown partly in section. Fig. 3 is a similar View, in elevation, to that shown upon Fig.

l of the drawings, with the trolley-wire displaced from the groove in the trolley-wheel.

Fig. 4 is a like view to that shown upon Fig.

2, with the trolley-wire displaced from the trolley-wheel and caught by the branching arms carried by the piston-rod, the said wire shown below the level of the top of the trolley-wheel. Fig. 5 is a sectional view of. the cylinder and some of the parts therein, the piston head, rod, and branching arms shown in elevation, with the trolleywire located within said branching arms elevated above the top of the trolley-wheel and ready to drop within the groove of the trolley-wheel as soon as the piston head, rod, and branching arms descend. Fig. 6 is a view of a portion of the trolley-pole and devices connected therewith in elevation, other parts thereof broken away, a portion of the top of the car in elevation and parts thereof broken away, and the trolleystand shown in section. Fig. 7 is a view in elevation of the top. of the car, the air-pipes partly shown in elevation and partly by dotted, lines, the trolley-stand, trolley-pole, trolley-wheel and its attachment, and a portion of the trolley-wire also illustrated in elevation, and a portion of the airpipes shown depending from the two ends of the car broken away; and Fig. 8 is a sectional view, on an enlarged scale, illustrating the connection of the air-pipes secured to the car and the air-pipe connections leading to the air-cylinder and the trolley-pole broken away.

Similar reference-numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views. f The reference-numeral 1 refers to the trolicy-wheel, 2, to the trolley-pole; 3, to the air-cylinder; 4, to the arm of the trolleywheel, preferably cast, otherwise made a part of the air-cylinder 3. lhe trolley-pole socket 6, like the said arm 4, is in like manner preferably made integral with the air-cylinder 3. The arm 4 is forked at its outer end, and the trolley-wheel is made to revolve within the forks upon the pin7. 8 is the piston-head, having thereon a packing ofleather or other suitable material. 9 is the piston-rod, which islonger than the cylinder 3 and carries upon its upper end, extending above the cover of the cylinder, at body portion 10, having two upwardly-extending radiating arms 11 11, inclined and converging toward the body portion 10, and upon the upper and inner face of'each of the said arms are racks 12 12,

which serve to catch the trolley-wire as soon as the wire becomes dislodged from the groove of the trolley-wheel and securely hold the trolley-wire within the said two arms 11 11 until the piston-head 8 and rod 9, carrying the said arms 11 11, are elevated, carrying with it the trolley-wire, as shown upon Fig. 5 of the drawings. These arms 11 11 are provided upon the upper extremities thereof with beak-like projections 13 13 and racks 12 12, connected to the inner face of said arms, which extend from the beak-like projections to the converging ends of the arms 11 11, between which the roller 61 is located, on which the trolley-wire 31 slides when the piston-rod has ascended, carrying with it the said wire, as shown in Fig. f drawings. A key 50 upon the cover 22 works in the way 51 in the piston-rod 9 and keeps the arms 11 11 at right angles to the wire 31.

In the bottom of the air-cylinder 3 are located two valves 14 and 15. The compressedair valve 14 permits the compressed air to enter the cylinder 3 from a compressed-air tank or tanks (not shown) located in the two ends of the car to pass upward therefrom upon the top of the car through the ball connection 33, thence upward through the flexible pipe 34 into the pipe 35, which follows'the trolley-pole 2, to or near the upper and swinging end thereof.

The stop-cock or valve 15 permits the compressed air to escape from the cylinder 3 under piston-head 8, and when this valve is open the piston head, rod, and upwardlyslanting arms 11 descend, as shown upon Figs. 2 and 4 of the drawings, thereby permitting the dislodged trolley-wire 31 to descend upon the trolley wheel within the.

groove shown therein.

To the free end of the crank 17 the link 19 is pivoted, and to the opposite end thereof the horizontal lever 21, fulcrumed upon a pin 39 in the side of the cylinder 3, is also pivoted. The opposite end of the lever 21 rests between two collars 23, secured upon the vertical rod 18, which passes through a keeper 36, secured to the side of the air-cylinder 3.

The free end of the valve-crank 16 is pivoted to the vertical rod 18, which extends upward from below the bottom of the cylinder 3 a short distance above the cover 22 of said cylinder and is pivoted to the outer end of the cover-lever 20, fulcrumed to a support upon cover of the cylinder 22 by means of a post 37.

The cover-lever 20 extends inwardly and centrally from the support 37 until it is about ton-head 8 ascends against the tension of the spring 41 by means of the compressed air entering the bottom of the cylinder 3 through the air-valve 14, its upper surface comes in contact with the lower end of the rod 24, which reciprocates-through the cover 22 of the cylinder, forces the said rod 24-against the action of the spring 40, coiled therearound, and also moves the free end of the cover-lever 20 to a horizontal position. (Shown upon 'Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings.) This closes the valve 14 by moving the vertical rod 18 down, and thus cuts off the compressed air from pipe 32. This downward movement of the vertical rod 18 carries with it the free end of the lever 21, retained between the two collars thereon, 23 23, and by means of the link 19 and crank 17 opens the valve 15 and permits the compressed air within the cylinder to escape. The spring acts as a bufier, preventing the entire descent of the pistonhead 8.

The operation of this invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description, taken in connection with the drawings appended hereto.

It is obvious that many variations and changes in the details of construction and arrangement of my invention would readily suggest themselves to persons skilled in the art and still be within the spirit and scope of my invention.

I do not desire to confine this invention to the specific construction, combination, and arrangement of parts herein shown and described, and the right is reserved to make all changes in and modifications of the same as come within the spirit of this invention; but I do desire to secure as my invention all features of construction and equivalents thereof that come within the scope of my improvement as herein shown and described, andillustrated upon the drawings appended hereto.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

1. An attachment for trolley-wheels, a cylinder, a piston-headand piston-rod adapted to reciprocate within the cylinder, said rod extended above the cover of the cylinder, arms extending outwardly secured to the piston-rod, devices for reciprocating the, piston head, rod, arms carried upon the end of the piston-rod and moving therewith, whereby the trolley-wire caught and retained by said arms is held in aplane above or below the normal position of the wire.

2. An attachment for trolley-wheels, a cylinder, a piston head and rod adapted to work vertically within the cylinder, said rod projecting through and above the cover of the cylinder, upwardly and outwardly slanting arms secured to the free projecting end of the piston-rod, theextremity of each of said arms provided with a beak or hook for catching and retaining the trolley-wire when displaced from the wheel and means for reciprocating said piston head, rod, and arms,and holding the trolley-wire for a .limited space of time below the normal plane of elevation of the trolley-wire.

and a pole-socket made integral with said cylinder, a trolley-pole connected within said socket at one end, and with a car at the opposite end, a piston head and rod adapted to reciprocate within said cylinder, said rod provided at the end thereof projecting through and abovethe cover of the cylinder with up wardly-extended and radiating arms having a rack upon the inner faces thereof for catching and holding the trolley-wire when dislodged from the trolley-wheel, devices for reciprocating the piston head, rod and arms carried thereon, and for holding the trolleywire above the normal position above the trolley-wheel.

4. An attachment for trolleys, a wheel having a groove upon the periphery thereof, a cylinder provided with a forked arm, said wheel journaled in the outer end thereof, a po1e-socket made a part of said cylinderfa trolley-pole fastened at one end within the socket and pivotally connected at the opposite end thereof to the top of a car, a piston head and rod adapted to move vertically and centrally relative to said cylinder, said rod carrying radiating arms and an antifriction device at the junction of said arms and the piston-rod and means for elevating said piston-rod and arms upon the upper end thereof, whereby the trolley-wire when displaced from the groove in the trolley-wheel is carried upon said antifriction device between the converging ends of said arms and elevated above the normal height of the trolleywire and above the trolley-wheel.

5.- A cylinder, a piston head and rod reciprocating therein, a-trolley-wheel, means for connecting said parts, upwardly-extending radiating arms secured to the free projecting end of-saidrod, a roller journaled between the converging ends of said arms, mechanism for elevating said piston head, rodand arms within and above the cylinder, devices upon said arms for conducting the trolleywire when displaced from the trolley-wheel to and upon said roller and retaining said wire until replaced upon the trolley-wheel.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

JAMES V. AINSWORTH.

Witnesses:

G. M; GIFFEN, J E. CROFT. 

